FC Porto took advantage of their trip to the Estádio Municipal de Arouca to return to victories in the Portuguese League, beating Arouca (2-0) on matchday 24 of the competition. After the match against “a rival that plays very well”, Martín Anselmi praised the way his team competed and “withstood every situation”. “Very happy” for Iván Marcano's return to competition, the coach only regretted Rodrigo Mora's misfortune during warm up, which forced him to “make a decision in minutes”.

A quality opponent
“Arouca is a rival that plays very well, I told the coach that and congratulated him. They're a team that handles the ball well and know what they're doing, which is why they haven't lost in eight games. At times we found it hard to defend, but as time went on we began to feel more comfortable. The team competed as it should and withstood every situation.”

High pressure
“We have to be an intelligent team. Arouca is a difficult team to press, we have to understand each moment well, because in the first half we sometimes opened up too many spaces during the pressure. We spoke, came together and closed down the spaces in the second half. We knew that if we stole the ball we'd score the second goal and we did.”

Rodrigo Mora's injury in warm up
“It was unfortunate what happened to Rodrigo and it meant we had to make a decision in minutes, but we wanted to change as little as possible. Fábio Vieira has been playing well in the position he's been playing in, he's got good feet, he knows how to play between the lines and he's clever at occupying spaces. When I sent in Eustáquio, I knew what he could give us in other matters. In the second half, we started to have more control of the ball playing with three midfielders.”

Iván Marcano's return
“I still know Iván very little, but I know enough to be very happy about his return. I know what he's been through, what he's suffered and what he thinks about the future, because I know he thought this moment might not come, but I also know that he really wanted his son to see him play again. He's a very important player for us, with a lot of experience and quality, which is why he came back after so long and played the way he did. He went out tired, but it's important to have a player like him, even for me as a coach.”